Magnet Therapy: What It Is, Claims, and Scientific Evidence

Magnet therapy is the use of magnets and magnetized objects to heal or induce helpful benefits on the body. Practitioners claim it as a valid form of healing, but it is pseudoscience in nature because of the general implausibility to test and measure its effects.

Applications

• Magnet therapy is used to relieve pain and create a healthier magnetic aura in the body. Practitioners and proponents have claimed it heals sores and wounds and increases energy, but none of these claims have been proven.

Studies

• Because pain is subjective, it is not a measurable form of testing. Studies show that magnets do not increase blood circulation.

Legal

• The sale of magnetic therapy products earns about $1 billion worldwide (see link in Resources). However, in the United States, it is heavily monitored because making claims without scientific data is illegal.

Products

• Magnetized products that claim to be beneficial to the body include shoe soles, bracelets, anklets, chairs, cloth bands and magnetic mattresses.

Thomas Skalak

• Thomas Skalak of the University of Virginia published a study in November 2007 showing that magnetic therapy reduced swelling by 50 percent in the paws of small rats (see link in Resources). This was done in a controlled environment, but Skalak does not endorse magnet therapy.